PERSPECTIVES: MY ENGLISH JOURNEY
A SANTIAGO TIRIRA ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM LEVEL 6 YACHAY TECH, ECUADOR
PERSPECTIVES: MY ENGLISH JOURNEY BY A SANTIAGO TIRIRA ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM YACHAY TECH LEVEL 6 011 TEACHER: JOSIE JAVENS
JANUARY 10, 2016
IMBABURA, ECUADOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS PORTFOLIO LETTER RESPONSE ESSAY INTERPRETATION ESSAY ARGUMENTATION ESSAY FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT ESSAY REFLECTIONS THANKS
Santiago Tirira Universidad Yachay Tech Imbabura, Ecuador
December 09, 2016
Dear Portfolio Letter
My name is Santiago Tirira. I am very pleased you can read my language portfolio. All my work and experiences are within this work which help me to justify my experience as a language student at Yachay Tech. My portfolio consists of four essays, a very interesting research project that was developed in my level 6 English course and some reflections. I really enjoy all the work I did and I am very happy that I can continue my academic career the next semester tanks to all the knowledge that I have obtained so far. As any student who wants to excel in the studies, I would not be left behind, it is more my goal this year 2016, which in fact is about to end, is to learn everything I can about the English language. This semester that also already almost finished, I completed level 6, a very difficult level, let me say. This level 6 has left me knowledge in the English language and opportunity to understand many things like papers, can to read books and most important, communicate with people who also speak English. I like to write essays and during this level 6 in my class I write four of different topics. Some features in these essays are very notorious because from the beginning to the end of the course there has been a change in the grammar. For example, in the first essay I made several grammatical errors that gave another meaning to a sentence and also in a full
paragraph. With the help of the teacher and my classmates I could see my mistakes and at the same time I was improving my writing. For the other essays the most important feature was the care of the theme content. This point helps me to establish myself as a good writer and also critical of other works. That is what I got with my research project which has a very interesting topic and can see in this portfolio. Similarly, pronunciation was an important factor at this level where I can develop my communication with my class. I realized that I spent a lot of time in preparing the presentations of English but this was worth because the final work was very well seen by my teacher and classmates. Although there is a lot to learn and to master in the English language, I do not lose the desire to continue with this predisposition that I have for my goal that I raised at the beginning of this year. Knowledge is acquired if your mind is open and thanks to English language I have been able to know many things that to people is very difficult. Practice is the key, and I will continue writing, reading and speaking the English language so this become a natural part of me. The reward comes after and if you listen to guys asking, how level 6 is? Then you tell them that to finish this level you will feel more complete and you will realize that the hard work gives fruits. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed to read this and continue to enjoy reading the rest of my portfolio.
Sincerely,
Santiago Tirira
RESPONSE ESSAY
RESPONSE ESSAY TO “THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SELF-DRIVING CARS”
Response Essay to “The Ethical Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars” Santiago Tirira Yachay Tech University
RESPONSE ESSAY TO “THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SELF-DRIVING CARS”
Response Essay to “The Ethical Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars” A child of three years can handle a smartphone, this does not mean that the child is a
genius, only the engineers who built this device are geniuses. In the future, technological advances will lead people to generate social dilemmas. Some people will have high-tech devices. This is the case of self-driving cars and the problem is that people have an ethical dilemma facing this technology, so says Patrick Lin (2015) in his video The ethical dilemma of self-driving cars published in TED-Ed. Although the video represented only a thought experiment based on meaningful questions, Patrick Lin said that sometime in the near future, people will face difficult decisions facing problems like car accidents and vehicular traffic. For this reason, we can say that technology devices will be responsible for the future of social ethical decisions and development of people. The technological advances of the future play an important role when man build devices that allow people to stop performing actions such as driving a car. But people will still continue taking decisions based on circumstances. For example, in the case of an accident, Lin Patrick exposes an experiment where a smart car which is in an unavoidable accident. The security measure smart car is to take a quick decision. That same decision could not take the driver in account because at that moment only act the reflexes. The goal with auto driving cars is "predict and drastically reduce traffic accidents and fatalities by eliminating human error in driving." (Lin, 2015, 1:24). The self-driving cars are intelligent vehicles programmed with algorithms (Lin, 2015). You can believe that if an accident occurs with this type of car, the culprit should be the programmer. Although it is a perfect machine if a failure, then it was the fault of the person who built it. Today, there are already cars that drive themselves. But no cars that can
RESPONSE ESSAY TO “THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SELF-DRIVING CARS”
choose and save lives of people at the time of an accident. Intelligent vehicles that can make decisions must have a programmed system that follows a specific algorithm as the people decisions are taken based on their brain and motor ability. A mechanical system programmed as an intelligent vehicle could make the same decisions of the person in less time. Therefore, it will prevent and reduce the risk of accidents. Patrick Lin (2015) also states that the use of self-driving cars, is an advantage because "alleviate road congestion, reducing harmful emissions, and minimize time unproductive and stressful driving” (1:35). Then, as these cars help the environment I think that the program that would control the vehicle must use electricity and fuel use would be zero. Today vehicles that help the environment are hybrid cars. This kind of cars does not generate any dilemma in people. The only problem is that these vehicles are more expensive than conventional cars and are only available to reach people. The self-driving cars that follow an algorithm could also be programmed to perform other functions such as deciding, after an accident, who is more likely to survive than others. The algorithms follow a neutral process, but the video clearly shows that people who program the cars will have to make difficult decisions because according to Patrick Lin (2015) "It is tempting to offer to the general principles of decision making, such as minimizing damage, but even that quickly leads to morally murky decisions " (1:55). Then, an algorithm for more perfect it is, has given conditions by the programmer. Finally, to programming self-driving cars, is due to analyze all the factors that lead to preserve the life of a person. The programming of the self-driving cars will be mainly in order to “reduce traffic accidents”, says Patrick Lin (2015) throughout the video (1:25). On the question of who is responsible of program these vehicles (Patrick Lin, 2015, 3:30) based on intelligent
RESPONSE ESSAY TO “THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SELF-DRIVING CARS�
algorithms, will continue to debate because managers, programmers, will face in the future lawyers and judges. They cannot judge the self-drivable car but maybe the vehicle owner. In conclusion, the decisions people make now will be reflected in the future. Technology is an option to help to solve problems, but, the programming of smart cars to help to make decisions at the time of an accident, it is a dilemma that is still under discussion. The projection is to eliminate the risk factor of the human mind. The mind of a person can react in different ways. In the end, the same people build systems that help to respond to controversial events of any kind as the dilemma of self-driving vehicles.
RESPONSE ESSAY TO “THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF SELF-DRIVING CARS”
References: Lin, P. (2015, December 8). The ethical dilemma of self-driving cars. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixIoDYVfKA0
INTERPRETATION ESSAY
INTERPRETATION ESSAY TO “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS”
Interpretation Essay to “The Garden of Earthly Delights” Santiago Tirira Yachay Tech University
INTERPRETATION ESSAY TO “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS”
Interpretation Essay to “The Garden of Earthly Delights” God did not create the world for men to destroy it, but to live happy in it (Garcia, 2013). The author of this painting was Hieronymus Bosch, a Dutch painter who gain a great recognized fame in the period of 1450 and 1516, all this because he had an extraordinary capacity to invent and create a lot of figures (Biography, 2016). Some of the few works that he has, have different thematic, but all have a common point and these are themes related with religion like born, death, God, spirits, paradise, hell and others. The most important paintings are The Last Judgment, The Hay Way, The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things and finally the Garden of Earthly Delights (Biography, 2016). The philosophy of Bosch tells us that the salvation of the soul after sinning is only possible through suffering and as a consequence most mortals have as destiny an eternal damnation (Herranz, 2013, p.1). Then we can say that the works of Bosch always show us that punishment because of the bad actions. This painting gives us to understand that humanity must take into account the actions they take each day as these will greatly affect the future that we expect. We begin by interpreting this painting from a global perspective; That is to say that it affects the whole planet, as a problem with regard to global warming. The work of Bosch, "The Garden of Delights", is a triptych that shows in a first panel a virgin nature where plants and animals are not affected by the hand of man, this is a time approximately before the boom of the industrial revolution in the year 1770. Then a second panel represents the high consumption of man from the Earth's resources. For example, oil exploitation and deforestation. With these actions it is expected that the planet will have other problems in the future. Finally, in the last panel, humanity is condemned for its own actions because there are no longer resources to survive and the planet is dying. If we see our current generation,
INTERPRETATION ESSAY TO “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS�
we are on the second panel and we know perfectly well where we are headed by the actions we are taking. The second interpretation is much related with the idea of Christianism. The first panel represent the garden of eternity in which God created a man in his image and after that created a woman from the man, this panel is very important because it means the life and connivance in peace between human and the environment, but after that occur the sin in which the humanity betray the confidence that God gave us. The second panel of the painting represents an opportunity that god give the humanity to reconsider the foul that humanity make in the paradise, but this is impossible because the garden is a place in which humanity are involved in a lot of temptations. The third panel of this painting try to represent the hell in which we are destiny, this part is very dismal because shows how the humanity will suffer for the eternity, also represent the suffering in different ways, for example there are tortures in which people are used like musical instruments, others are involved is catastrophic situation in which they are devoured by other beasts and others. So this painting represent the history of religion like we know and how we believe. The last interpretation of this painting is that, it represents the evolution of humanity in the world and Universe. The majority of people tends to see the painting from left to right, but if we observe in the opposite direction we have other point of view in we can see first the hell, after that the garden and finally the heaven. So in the first panel in which we can see the hell, we interpret this part like the beginning of the humanity in the sense of evolution, it means, at the beginning humans were not civilized, they did not know nothing that we know in nowadays, a period in which they are in chaos with the only objective to find food, survive and have a lot of offspring. Then the central panel of the painting, represents all achievements that humanity have created from the past to the present either good or bad for us. For example,
INTERPRETATION ESSAY TO “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS”
people created tools that allow them to satisfy their necessities and improve some technologies to facilitate the work, not only for work, now our technology get moving very fast to create more and more technologies to help us to make different activities. The central panel also represent our present in which we are involved, it means, social problems, also the principal mean of this part shows us that we remain being beasts that think we are better than others species in the Earth that only find pleasures to satisfy our morbid wishes, be greedy and find more. For two parts it could be good or bad for humanity, because is our nature find more to our development but if we do not make in the correct way we could found our own destruction. The third panel of the painting represent the maximum point of humanity expression in the way of evolution, it means that the humanity reached a state in which they perfects because they develop all necessary tools that allow them to know all mysteries around the Universe, so with this they become in superior beings, being considered gods of all around us forms that they were once. In conclusion, we can interpret the painting of Bosch, “The Garden of Delights”, from different perspectives. We can represent painting as a problem with regard to global warming and man's consumerism towards Earth´s resources. On the other hand, we see this painting as religious iconography clearly visible in each of the panels. Also, we associate this painting as the evolution of man from a precarious state without any knowledge to a different state led basically to perfection. In this painting, Bosch tries to suggest to viewers that The good future is not marked by the good actions that we do, rather the correct way that we take each day trying to meet our needs. This allow us know several perspective about ideologies and how we adapt to determinate systems.
INTERPRETATION ESSAY TO “THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS”
References: bio.
(2016).
Hieronymus
Bosch
Biography.
Retrieved
from
Retrieved
from
http://www.biography.com/people/hieronymus-bosch-9220497 Garcia,
M.
(2013).
Phrase
of
Today.
http://www.frasedehoy.com/autor/815/martin-garcia Herranz,
P.
(2013).
The
Garden
of
Delights.
Retrieved
http://rima.uv.es/obra/ver/id/963/El_Jard%C3%ADn_de_las_Delicias.html
from
ARGUMENTATION ESSAY
ARGUMENTATION ESSAY TO “TECHNOLOGY AND GOOGLE EFFECT”
Argumentation Essay to “Technology and Google Effect” Santiago Tirira Yachay Tech University
ARGUMENTATION ESSAY TO “TECHNOLOGY AND GOOGLE EFFECT”
Argumentative Essay to “Technology and Google Effect” Do you think that future the machines cab to take control of us? The study of the two articles “Google effect is technology making us stupid?” and “Is technology us dumber or smarter? Yes” show us several things about our life near to tools of study or hobby. Coopersmith say that “technology has made us individually dumber and individually smarter and collective smarter” (2016). On the other hand Robert says that “A recent study suggests 90 percent of us are suffering from digital amnesia” (2015, p4). This two arguments carrier to think that the technology devices and use of Google should be regulated to people that have access to these. Many people nowadays use some kind of technology as smartphones, computer and internet. But we don´t look at the problem that this generate if only we use these every days. I agree with Coopersmith when he says that technology has made people dumber. Also I see that my peers or the people that study in university, the majority of them use the computer for too long and after, their grades aren´t good. They don´t use the advantages of technology and internet that the university has and give to student to help in their studies. The technology has advantages and disadvantages. It´s true that internet help to remember things, but the main problem that affects people is the loss of communication. A man can work from his house using a computer. Also, He can meet other people only writing and sending emails. The problem is that this person never speaks in front of any people, the communication mean see to people to the eyes because always the messages from social pages are false. For example, the people remember the birthday because Facebook knows it, this mean that people use internet to their individual interest. Some studies show us the disadvantages about the bad use of technology and others say that this is false. It only depend of good use, a responsible use that people give to devices
ARGUMENTATION ESSAY TO “TECHNOLOGY AND GOOGLE EFFECT”
of job and study. Everydays on Internet people give advice about a good use of new technology. I think that only people should take correct actions and to have a schedule to use internet or other kind of technology. So any body will have problem of amnesia or danger of to be stupid or monkey of technology. In conclusion, the use of internet and technology is very present in people nowadays and generates advantages and disadvantages. There are examples where students spend every night in front of a computer, after in class these don´t develop their knowledge. Also, the use of technological tools give to people a dependence of the same tools because when I forgot something always go to find this information in Google. I think that a regulation of this problem begin since our selves. After when we can use the technology responsibility, we can develop a new technologies and it´s help us to think smarter.
ARGUMENTATION ESSAY TO “TECHNOLOGY AND GOOGLE EFFECT”
References Coopersmith, J. (2016). Is technology making us dumber or smarter? Yes. THE CONVERSATION. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/is-technology-making-usdumber-or-smarter-yes-58124 Robert, G. (2015). Google Effect: is technology making us stupid?. INDEPENDENT. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/googleeffect-is-technology-making-us-stupid-10391564.html
FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT ESSAY
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
Internet Use and Current Technological Devices Play a Different roles in Higher Education Santiago Tirira Yachay Tech University
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
Internet Use and Current Technological Devices Play a Different roles in Higher Education Do you believe that the Internet and technology is hijacking our language and thought? If you are reading this, then it seems hasn´t-yet. The behavior of students towards new technologies is one of the problems that arise in educational institutions such as Yachay Tech. The principal problem is Student negligence when they study and use the internet at the same time without concentrating on their responsibilities as a student. Nuttall (2013) say that “Distractions such as to access social network sites and games can hamper their overall progress and their potential to succeed” (para.6). I think that these actions depend of responsibility of students and the study model of university too. A good study system help to improvement the knowledge of students. But the kind of technology devices that students use can be an important topic to analyze because these devices can help and harm students' academic performance. Then, there is not a good management of students’ talent and to the university. Misuse means bad use of a device outside its main function in this case, the Internet has all the information to help to students in their tasks, but there is an abuse of the learning tools that leads the student to waste valuable time. There are cases where students´ performance is not good compared with others students. I think misuse of the Internet and current technological devices should be regulated because it negatively influences the performance of Yachay Tech University students. Several of the students, men and women, use their study time to perform interesting activities such as sports, but also to enter social networks. The problem is that they spend a lot of time on one of these activities. In social networks or computer games, some students spend all night using these sites. In addition, the normal days of the week are no exception in the library or in some classroom, you can find students playing games or chatting. Only at
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
the time of exams, all the students leave aside their vices like Facebook or video games only for study. This study strategy is not highly recommended because it is a serious problem that can lead the student to fall one or several subjects at the same time. Stories of students are known that always looks for the easiest way when completing their tasks and in the end ends up losing. For example, an applied student uses the time correctly and study resources responsibly. However there is another group of students who always expect to find all the answers in Google. The clearest answers can be given by a teacher directly in class and it is not necessary to investigate all afternoon about a topic. The moment a student spends too much time searching the web for a particular subject, he or she sure will have some distraction. The above arguments can be corroborated with a survey aimed at the students of Yachay which were randomly selected, where they answered questions according to the research topic. The results of the survey found that 75% of students within a sample of 30 people use entertainment websites for more than three hours per day while 16% only do it for two hours. These percentages should be proportional to the time they take to study, but there is a pretty odd margin about the time students use to access the Internet for their entertainment and study. Students say they use more than three hours for their entertainment and three hours to study. But the complementary questions to the previous ones like how many academic web pages do you know?, are not related because more than 50% contradict their response to the moment to assure that it destines more than three hours in the study and does not know to answer correctly the question about the time used in study. Some data that could be known from the survey were that the most popular entertainment web pages are Facebook and YouTube while the most interesting academic web pages for the students are
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
Google Classroom and Duolingo. At the end only 30% know what they are talking about, as this group of people allocate their time for the two areas of study and entertainment responsibly in a way that neither affects the other. According to statistics from a study of Carbonell et al (2012) also associate with the misuse of smartphones and computers during study hours (p. 7). This problem focuses on the excessive time that students spends using their smart phone. We all use a phone for many things, but the truth is that this type of device has too many applications and keeps the majority of students distracted, not only during study hours, but also during class time. This point is important because it is assumed that with all the technological tools used in class, students must have sufficient resources to develop their learning faster. However, every day we see students using their smart phone and their grades in some subjects are not good. Then there is a clear problem between the student and smart phones. To complement this argument, within the survey conducted to 30 people, more than 60% know more web pages entertainment than pages wed academics. There are several ways to solve and see other problems of misuse of the internet and technological devices. First, there is a dependence on technology and the internet into the classrooms. The teachers use a projector to teach, but when this tool does not work or when there is no internet, the class is very different it is delayed and students are desperate when there is not internet connection. It is the same, if there is no electric light, the students' computers do not work. There is a more serious problem that people do not take the time to research books but are dependent on their machines and wait until the electric light arrives. This problem and all the effects of the misuse of the internet and technological devices should be regulated with a rigorous schedule where students distribute their time between the study
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
and their entertainment. It is true that the entire student population of Yachay Tech has already been banned from accessing different websites but have only let it pass. Students will continue to access different websites that limit their time to study and people in charge of regulating that access only take data from the web pages and there is no action in this regard. Then access to web pages that are not related to the academic area should be regulated strongly within the university. It is interesting to know that certain students have a full schedule of study and personal life. This student can taking control of their time without problems, then another solution is to look or try to imitate these people and distribute correctly the time to gradually achieve a better academic performance because is faster solution than to try to regulate an education system. Most people are happy with their computer and internet connection. Some people can adapt to use of new technology while others fail to control the scope of the Internet and technology tools. It is true that over the years, the introduction of technology in education has allowed several advantages when it comes to learning inside and outside the classroom. Also, Juan Salinas (2004) say that the needs of society and higher education institutions achieve flexibility and integration development paths using information technologies (p.1). The most important aspect of the use of the Internet and technological devices has been the accessibility of information. However, in the words of Nuttall (2013), "the serious negative effect of technology on student education is the distraction it can bring to the learning environment. The opportunity to access social networking sites and games can Tempting students away from planned learning activities. Such distractions can hamper your overall progress and your potential for success�. For example, sometimes students start using the Internet for the purpose of studying, but when they search for information about a topic, they
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
always have a social networking page open. Students try to concentrate and in the end many end up watching videos and leave their homework for another day or just do not do it. The solution, once again, is to regulate access to both the Internet and technological devices and to ensure that students adapt to the schedule of study without leaving aside some entertainment. In conclusion, the problem is very evident students spend many hours on the Internet, on social networks and many pages of entertainment. Many of them spend a lot of time trying to understand the teacher's class by looking at a tutorial on the Internet. The survey done to students was done in the evening, a time in which they were supposed to be studying. The results of the survey corroborate that some students use their computer and Internet but not to study, they use those to spend many hours playing at home until late at night. Also, an important thing is the use of smart phones is present like a problem inside and outside of classes. For all these problems there is a solution that starts in the classroom and ends at student´s desk at home. They must all make the right decisions. They are all aware of the effect that the Internet and technology has on student life. Then all students and teachers too must find a way to stop this problem by trying not to influence the development of knowledge. All people know why they are studying at university and where they are going. So it's important that things start and do it the right way.
INTERNET USE AND CURRENT TECHNOLOGICAL
References Carbonell, X., Chamarro, A., Griffiths, M., Oberst, U., Cladellas, R., & Talarn, A. (2012). Problematic Internet and cell phone use in Spanish teenagers and young students. Annals of Psychology, 28(3), 789-796. Retrieved from http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16723774017 Nuttall, E. (2013). Is Technology Affecting Teens' Education Negatively? LIVESTRONG. Retrieved
from
http://www.livestrong.com/article/1002627-technology-affecting-
teens-education-negatively/ Salinas, J. (2004). Teaching Innovation and use of TIC in Higher Education. Universities and Knowledge
Society
Journal,
1(1),
3.
Retrieved
from
www.uoc.edu/rusc/dt/esp/salinas1104.pdf Tirira, A. (December, 2016). Create a survey using Google Forms. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/a/yachaytech.edu.ec/forms/d/1_YJcTfwepMXt3mXlHgZGLf Bcw73Brph4Gv3cddPU9gU/edit#responses
REFLECTIONS A photo from class in last day near my dear teacher and partners
THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR TIME AND READING MY PORTFOLIO. I WILL CONTINUE WRITING SO THAT LIKE YOU, OTHER PEOPLE CAN SEE MY ENGLISH LANGUAGE WORK.
SINCERELY,
A SANTIAGO TIRIRA